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3 Digital Marketing Tips Every Brand Should Know for the New Year

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Recently, a publication from my home country of Canada wrote one of my favorite pieces about Kiip and what we’re helping redefine. The article explores three things every digital marketer should know, and I’d encourage everyone to read it. I wanted to reiterate and expand upon a few of the points for my LinkedIn audience and examine them through the lens of Kiip.

Without further adieu, here are the three things every digital marketer should know:

1. Build customer loyalty instantly on the first encounter

In the on-demand age we live in, patience wears thin quickly. For a sign of how fast we move, look no further than the fact that people ditch slow-loading videos after two seconds.

We aim to cater to that need for speed by providing rewards that are redeemable on the spot. There’s no waiting around, accumulating points or jumping through hoops – you earned the reward, so why shouldn’t you be able to enjoy it when you want to? We call this conceptconsumable loyalty, the notion of creating the right match of a reward in a moment where your customer is the most receptive. It’s the most effective way to build appreciation in the very limited amount of time you have as a marketer to engage with your customer.

2. Target moments, not impressions

Impressions are an empty metric because they only indicate whether a customer has seen an ad – not whether they actually engaged with the ad, let alone enjoyed it.

We are on a mission to entice brands to focus on moments. Practically every app has some manifestation of these moments to varying degrees of intensity. These mobile moments are important because of the emotion that it embodies. When you are with a user when they are feeling something, the impact is the greatest. Moments can be positive, like leveling up in a game or finishing a to-do list, or even negative. Both ways create opportunities to create meaningful engagement. Moments in our eyes is the currency of hyper-engagement. It’s a metric that’s mathematically sound and capable of fitting in media models and at the same time subjective enough to describe the gap left between the CPC and CPM worlds. There is something to be said about the emotional state of a consumer and we’re measuring it in their responses, in real time.

One of my favorite campaigns we’ve ever done was with Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft), who wanted to own all the “sour” moments in our network by offering Sour Patch Kids rewards. The campaign turned all “sour” moments “sweet” by doing things like rewarding users even if they died in a game. People loved it, and so did the industry – it was named one of Mobile Marketer’s top 10 CPG mobile campaigns of the year.

3. Cater to consumer behavior instead of changing it

Don’t force your customers to alter their path – go where they’re already going. For example, after logging a daily run in a fitness-tracking app, which is more relevant – an invitation to download a random app or a reward for a free bottle of Gatorade; or even a free song download for the consumer’s next workout playlist? One tries to spur an unwanted action and the other taps into a stream of existing behavior.

To consumers, that highly interactive connection makes brand engagement a delight instead of a chore. It is very important to note that the delight can only be unexpected. Most mobile advertising typically ignores this very important distinction. When someone is working toward a predefined objective and knows how to earn a reward, the experience becomes a task for a reward. This is too Pavlovian and removes true delight.

The grander principle here isn’t various buzzwords like “value-exchange”, “gamification” or “beyond-the-banner”. It’s all really quite simple. We’re all humans and we enjoy the simple delights of life. Consumer brands offer products to enhance some aspect of our lives; why can’t they do the same through their first impressions with us? To the extent that this can happen through content, sponsorship, or experiences – this is how integrated marketing has helped change this landscape.

Remember simply to find existing consumer experiences and to find ways to add to it rather than to detract from it.

Very well written…And I believe it is really true, in this age of instant analyses of engagement, it has really become necessary to be with the consumer rather than go against and try to force something extraordinary. Some of the most successful campaigns in this digital age have been those that have been simple and in tune with consumer mood.

You focus on your customer’s loyalty, what makes them come back for more? Good service? Quality products? Digital marketing can focus on customers trust on brands, so make sure that your brand is trustworthy and you can make sure of that by giving them the best experience through great customer service and quality products.

Very interesting article. Thank you for sharing this. Im particularly interested in a point you made in section #1 “creating the right match of a reward in a moment where your customer is most receptive” can you suggest how this might be actioned or give any examples of companies that already do this well?

You do hit the one factor that must be managed- no attention span. This becomes crazy when building a brand but it must be addressed. You are on to something important Brian. How about the next post dealing with attention span and ways to break into this, move prospect along buying path, and closing. Or, using no attention span to build a brand.

Servicing a customer is part of every purchase and interaction. So if we do it and experience it everyday in almost everything we do, why isn’t good customer service the norm? We all have stories about when we are treated exceptionally well or extremely poor. We tend to share these extraordinary stories with others. Warren Buffett said it best : It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll things differently.”

The 3rd Rule should come first.. For the simple reason that to bring about a change, you should understand the current status… Behavioral changes happen over a period of time & there is NO 2 mins noodles recipe to it.. Its prudent to start at a common topic of interest & gradually drive the consumers….

Those are some top-notch observations. I couldn’t agree any better. Instead of forcing them to engage with you, why not pattern your efforts to compliment their behavior. And therefore appearing more genuine rather than obstructive.

Brian, I liked the article. I absolutely agree with the fact that highly interactive connection makes brand engagement a delight instead of a chore. It is very important to note that the delight can only be unexpected. Consumer brands offer products to enhance some aspect of our lives; why can’t they do the same through their first impressions with us? To the extent that this can happen through content, sponsorship, or experiences – this is how integrated marketing has helped change this landscape.

Business and Systems Integration Analyst at Accenture Federal Services

Interesting article. Wish companies would pick up on these ideas at a faster pace than what they are going at. There are so many ways to draw consumers in with advertising and it seems like companies are really missing the ball.

Companies that can grab a prospects attention instantly are worthy of serious analysis as, especially on LinkedIn, the act of following your company is just the first step. Posting ads or updates for key players in your follower pool is the next step and if you already have their ear its all about making sure the content is worth listening (or in this case reading).

Great article! Interesting thoughts. However I can’t agree with some of them. For example “There’s no waiting around, accumulating points or jumping through hoops – you earned the reward, so why shouldn’t you be able to enjoy it when you want to?” I know why! Because people value things they work for. Give a consumer free coupon on the street and see how many such instant coupons will be used. But give a consumer app with point collecting system and make it a game, a mission. Customers will be coming to your store/company over and over again and enjoy seeing app interface changing, new statuses achieved and new benefits collected. I know it because I’m the one who gets exited when my gas tank is empty. Because it means I get new point on my card and more rewards – I’m on the mission)) And I know I’m not the only one… Just saying…

Love your article, Brian, especially point #2. As marketers, we can become fixed on impressions or views, which really don’t mean much in the long run. I’ve read some insightful posts and articles which bring up this point in light of the recent Facebook fiasco of losing reach.

Very good article. For businesses that have reward points, there should be points awarded just for somebody signing up for the program. In signing up a person took as much time out of their lives as they do when they add something to their cart. They should be rewarded for that time and for adding themselves to your marketing campaigns.

Very well written…And I believe it is really true, in this age of instant analyses of engagement, it has really become necessary to be with the consumer rather than go against and try to force something extraordinary. Some of the most successful campaigns in this digital age have been those that have been simple and in tune with consumer mood.